Saudi Arabia’s stock market ended slightly lower on Sunday after a fall in oil prices at the end of last week, while banking shares helped lift Qatar’s benchmark index.
Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index fell 0.2% in a choppy trade, hit by a 4.6% fall in ACWA Power Company and a 3.3% decline in Saudi Arabian Mining Co.
Oil prices – a catalyst for the Gulf’s financial markets – settled more than 2% lower on Friday as traders grew less fearful of prolonged supply disruptions from a hurricane in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, while China’s latest economic stimulus packages failed to impress some oil traders.
Most Gulf markets fall as OPEC+ delays oil output hike
Deflationary pressures in the Chinese economy have been a heavy drag on oil prices this year, with customs data showing a sixth consecutive month of year-over-year declines in the country’s crude oil imports for October.
Separately, the general chief of staff of Saudi Arabia’s armed forces, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, will visit Tehran on Sunday to meet with his Iranian counterpart and discuss defence ties, Iran’s state media reported the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff as saying.
The Qatari index – which resumed trading following a two day break – gained 0.5%, with Qatar Islamic Bank advancing 1.1% and the Gulf’s biggest lender Qatar National Bank was up 0.4%.
Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index added 0.4%, with top lender Commercial International Bank rising 1.4%.
SAUDI ARABIA fell 0.2% to 12,103
QATAR gained 0.7% to 10,118
EGYPT rose 0.4% to 31,394
BAHRAIN eased 0.2% to 2,027
OMAN rose 0.2% to 4,714
KUWAIT added 0.4% to 7,735
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